<p>So I’m sitting here with my excel spreadsheet creating schedules and alternative schedules, etc. etc. I read that for the honors college I need 6 honors credits from university honors college seminar classes. Then it says i need an additional 12 credits of other departmental honors classes.</p>
<p>I took AP Chemistry in high school and got a 5, but I still plan on taking the general Chem 1 class (So i don’t start in organic, because Chem is important to a chemE major, and because it will give me a good initial gpa). So clearly I would want to take honors chem since I’ve already passed the class before. Each semester is 4 credit hours. So if I were to do honors general chem for fall and spring of freshman year, would that give me 8 of my 12 honors credits necessary? Sorry if it seems obvious, but it just doesn’t seem right… that’s so easy to do. </p>
<p>If that’s true it is almost disappointing that with that one class on its own, it took almost all of my honors credits. Is 12 credits a limit, or is that just a bare minimum?I wouldn’t mind taking honors calc 1 either, but since that is a 4 credit hour course as well, by the end of freshman year I would total 16 hours of honors credits. Is it bad to take more than just those 12? I remember reading honors classes are not necessarily harder, just more in depth discussions, smaller classes, etc. I really like smaller classes and want to avoid the largest classes, so could I just keep taking like math and physics in honors classes too? Or will I not be allowed to register for honors classes once I meet 12 hours? Is there any benefit or drawback from this? (provided it is even possible). </p>
<p>Thanks for any feedback!</p>
<p>You’re correct, that would give you 8 Honors credits. But the 18 credits is a minimum, not a maximum.</p>
<p>Students are free to take as many honors classes as they want. Unlike high school however, students don’t need to take the honors version of every course. With UH courses, the 15-person limit means that there are often more people that want to take the courses than there are spaces available, meaning that incoming freshmen may not find an available space in a popular UH course their first semester or two.</p>
<p>The reasoning behind the 18 credit requirement is that UA doesn’t want students to find the honors college requirements too hard to complete. Even with expanded honors course offerings in recent years, many students who come in with large amounts of college credits, particularly those who have or nearly earned an associate’s degree while in high school, find the 18-credit requirement difficult to complete as the majority of honors courses are at the 100/200-level.</p>
<p>While honors sections are smaller than non-honors sections and usually offer a different class format that emphasizes discussion, this doesn’t make them easy. For example, many very intelligent students take honors biology or chemistry thinking that the course will be easy. Fast forward a few weeks into the semester and many “Straight A” students are noticing that the courses require a lot of hard work and that some might end up with a B or C. As such, I cannot stress enough the importance of managing ones workload, especially during ones first semester at UA as the successful transition to a large 4 year university does not usually happen instantly. </p>
<p>To answer your question, the requirement is 18 hours of honors courses, 6 or more hours being from most any UH or other selected Honors College courses. The remaining credit hours can be completed by taking departmental hours courses, honors by contract, graduate level courses, etc. A year of honors chemistry would count as 8 honors credits, 2 honors calculus classes would count as another 8 hours. However, both of these would not count towards the required 6 UH credit hours.</p>
<p>Then it says i need an additional 12 credits of other departmental honors classes.</p>
<p>That’s not exactly what it says. You don’t need an additional 12 credits from honors departmental classes. That’s an option. You just need 18 honors credits of which at least 6 must be UH. It would be totally fine if all 18 credits were UH and none were departmental honors classes.</p>
<p>Okay… well I figured UH counted. I just wasn’t sure about what to do for all the departmental honors stuff. Thanks for clearing things up. I dunno if I wanna take honors math now too :</p>
<p>Or more importantly I am even qualified to take honors math? In high school I opted to just take a dual enrollment trig/precalc class instead of calc my senior year. I made it through with like a 98 no problem. I’m a fast learner and I get math… But since I didn’t take calc senior year, should I just take regular math, not honors?</p>
<p>What is it showing as your math placement? Or are you expected to take the Math Placement Exam?</p>
<p>Shoot I miss read that. nevermind 
thanks!</p>